Westward Expansion

1865-1914

U.S. Land Acquired in the 1800s

Manifest Destiny
Americans believed
they should own all
the land from the
Atlantic Ocean to
the Pacific Ocean;
coast to coast.

The Gold Rush!

Eureka!!!!!!!

Gold Rush-1849 - 1870

Gold was discovered in California in 1849.

Gold Rush-1849 - 1870

Gold was discovered in California in 1849.
People who went West for gold were
called forty-niners.

Gold Rush-1849 - 1870

Gold was discovered in California in 1849
The Comstock Lode, a Bonanza, was later
discovered.
People who moved West to mine are
called miners.

Gold Rush-1849 - 1870

Gold was discovered in California in 1849.
The Comstock Lode, a Bonanza, was later
discovered.
People who moved West to mine are
called miners.
Immigrants, such as Mexicans, Chinese
and the Irish, went to work in the mines.
Immigrants were treated poorly with long
hours, low pay and dangerous work.

Gold Rush-1849 - 1870

Gold was discovered in
California in 1849.
People who moved west
to mine are called miners.
Immigrants, such as
Mexicans, Chinese and
the Irish, went to work in
the mines.
Immigrants were treated
poorly with long hours,
low pay and very
dangerous work.

People moved West to find gold.

Boom towns and Ghost towns.

Gold or Silver strike
1. Miners arrive and build a small town.
2. More people come to sell supplies.
3. Real houses get built.
Boom Town
1. Gold or silver production falls decreases.
2. Miners move on.
3. The town is abandoned.
Ghost Town.

One man panning for gold.

I hope I find
gold and
become rich!

Men panning for gold.

I cant find
any. How
about you?

Nope.
Me either.

Working on the mine.

African Americans Moved West.

African Americans were called

Exodusters.
Many African Americans
moved to the West from
the 1840s to late 1890s.
They were escaping the
difficult life in the South
where Whites practiced
Jim Crow Laws and
denied African Americans
their new Constitutional
Rights.

Exodusters waiting for a steamship.

Why were African Americans

called Exodusters?
African Americans were called
Exodusters after the book from the
Bible called the Exodus.

Why were African Americans

called Exodusters?
African Americans were called
Exodusters after the book from the
Bible called the Exodus.
This book described how the Jews
escaped from slavery in Egypt.

Why were African Americans

called Exodusters?
African Americans were called Exodusters
after the book from the Bible called the
Exodus.
This book described how the Jews
escaped from slavery in Egypt.
The African Americans were escaping
slavery in the South, just as Jews escaped
slavery from Egypt. That is why they were
called Exodusters.

Exodusters moving West.

I hope
theres
no KKK.

I hope theres
no slavery in
the West.

Maybe we can
vote in the
West.

The Homestead Act of 1862.

An application for land.

People staked their
claim by finding a
section of land that
was marked.
Then they registered
the piece of land with
the government.
After cultivating the
land for five years, it
was theirs for free.

Homestead Act Stamp.

Homesteaders.
People moved West to stake their claim.

People traveled West on wagon roads,

and on the railroad and by steamship.

Plowfarms, plows and families in

front of their sodhouses.

A difficult life for the farmers.

Farmers had to cut through thick, hard earth
called sod.
Winters were harsh; cold, windy with a lot of
snowstorms called blizzards.
Summers were hot and had little rain.
Farmers had to use a technique called dryfarming (growing crops that needed little water.)
Sometimes grasshoppers would eat all the
crops.

Farmers in crisis.
Farmers could not repay their debts.
The Populist party tried to help farmers. They
wanted government to reduce railroad rates and
to help with (falling) decreasing prices for grain.
Populists wanted all the silver mined in the West
to be turned into coinage (money).
Free silver would make it easier for farmers to
repay their debts.
The United States did not turn silver into money.

The Cattle Kingdom.

Cowboys

Ranchers and Cowhands drove the

cattle to the Transcontinental Railroad.

Why did the Cattle Kingdom fail?

The Transcontinental Railroad

finished in 1869.

Many Immigrants, such as Irish, Mexicans

and Chinese were building the Railroad.

The Union Pacific meets the

Central Pacific in Utah in 1869.

Impact of the Railroads.

Railroads brought growth and new
settlement all across the West.

Impact of the Railroads.

Railroads brought growth and new
settlement all across the West.
The railroads enabled people, supplies,
and mail to move quickly and cheaply and
safer across the plains and the mountains.

Impact of the Railroads.

Railroads brought growth and new
settlement all across the West.
The railroads enabled people, supplies,
and mail to move quickly and cheaply and
safer across the plains and the mountains.
The largest cities and towns developed
where major railroad lines met.

Impact of the Railroads.

Railroads brought growth and new settlement all
across the West.
The railroads enabled people, supplies, and mail
to move quickly and cheaply and safer across
the plains and the mountains.
The largest cities and towns developed where
major railroad lines met.
Because of their rapid growth, western territories
began to apply for statehood. Nevada, Colorado,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and
Washington all became states from 1864
1890.

The Railroad spurs the growth of

other industries.
The lumber industry grows, because wood
is needed to build the train tracks.
The steel industry grows because steel is
needed to build the tracks.
The coal industry grows because coal is
needed to fuel the train.
The growth of these industries opens
thousands of new jobs for workers.

The Great Plains

Blue skies and open prairies.

Nature on the Great Plains.

The location of the Great Plains.

These are the states on the Plains.

Homesteaders came to
the Plains to farm the
land.
Miners searched for gold.
Railroad companies built
the train.
Exodusters came to
Kansas to start a new life
and later became miners
and Homesteaders and
worked on the railroad.
Immigrants worked on
railroads and in mines
and became
Homesteaders.

Native American Land

Native Americans
lived here first.
Native Americans
and Whites came
into bloody conflicts
over the land.
They tried to protect
their lands, but
finally, the United
States government
forced them onto
reservations.

Buffalo roamed the Plains.

Plains Indians hunt the buffalo.

The buffalo is used for tepees,

clothes, tools, food and more.

The buffalo hide business becomes

popular and settlers kill millions of
buffalo.

BROKEN PROMISES!
The United States government made many
treaties with the Native Americans not to fight
and not to touch certain areas of their land.
However, when gold was discovered there, the
Americans forced them to sign a new treaty
giving up the land.
The United States government broke many
treaties with the Native Americans.

Many Wars. Many Heroes.

Many Wars
Sioux War of 1876

Many Heroes
Sitting Bull and
Crazy Horse

The Apache Wars

Battle of Little Bighorn

Geronimo

Nez Perces

Chief Joseph

Lakotas & Cheyenne

Indians defend their lands, but are

defeated in the end.

Native Americans are forced onto

reservations.

The Dawes Act divided Indian land and gave some

to the Indians in hopes they would become
farmers. But they sold it to Whites for low prices.

Deerskin, bird feathers and cloth

were also used in Native American
culture.

Native Americans prayed for a new

world without Whites in the Ghost
Dance Religion.

Painting of the Ghost Dance.

Laws today protect Native

American Reservations.

Native Americans Today

Today, many Native Americans are a part
of our society.
However, many still live on reservations
and try to maintain their cultures.
New laws returned some Native American lands
back to the rightful owners.

How would you feel about your history if

you were a Native American?

Native Americans today.